


Through Shadow and Flame

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Ashes and Hope [3]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Universe Hopping, Canon-Typical Violence, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-02-18 18:10:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13105713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: Anakin Skywalker has just rid his universe of the Sith Master and Emperor Sidious. So that can't be Sidious, and that cannotbe him kneeling to the Sith.Or, it's not his universe, and now he's accidentally adopted an orphaned Padawan, a Jedi Master, and this universe's Padmé and her children. Right. Now what?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Our universe hopping Anakin is from As It All Burns, where he was raised/trained by Obi-Wan and Maul, and where his mother is still alive, if no longer on Tatooine, among other changes that color his opinions, motivations, and actions.

It's like looking into a warped mirror, watching his own body - not him, not his, but someone else who looks terribly like him - slide to his knees in front of a living-again Sidious, expression so utterly lost. Where are his Masters? Where is Obi-Wan, where is Maul? Sithspit and hellfires, where are Yoda and Qui-Gon and the rest of the Council, for that matter?

Taking a deep breath, Anakin wraps his hands around the hilts of both his lightsabers, stepping out of the shadows he seems to have used to walk through a wall. It draws the attention of both his alternate self - there is a flash of surprise and bewilderment that just surfaces through the miasma of anger, sadistic glee, and betrayal that muddies the Force in the room - and Sidious.

"Nice trick, old man." Anakin meets the coldly yellow eyes of the Sith Lord, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He's killed Sidious once, and he can do it again, if he has to. Obi-Wan and Maul are going to be worried when they can't raise him on his communicator, but he'll apologize later.

Sidious studies him with narrowed eyes, his face twisted in a way it hadn't been before, when Anakin had confronted him. "I didn't think the Order would be so bold as to attempt to clone young Skywalker."

Anakin huffs at Sidious's pretence that his alternate - still kneeling, still looking uncertain, but less surprised now - isn't even here. His Masters never would have resorted to such rudeness. "I was born, and I grew up, like any one else, old man. Probably in the same place the kid you have kneeling for you."

He wonders what Sidious did to his alternate, though he's not sure he wants to know. Killed Obi-Wan or Maul, maybe. It's the only thing Anakin can think of that would leave him reeling long enough for Sidious to get hooks in his mind.

Thumbing on one lightsaber, Anakin grins at the flash of surprise that crosses Sidious's face at the crimson blade. Obi-Wan had given him a wounded look when Anakin had built this saber, even though Anakin had already made one that was blue. It seems this Sidious isn't expecting red any more than the other one.

The surprise isn't enough to keep Sidious from meeting his first strike when he moves, and Anakin easily slides into the rhythm of a duel, reaching out to the Force to let it guide his movements. His other saber he keeps in reserve, though it's a bit of work to keep Sidious at bay without it. It's not time yet.

He has to light it when his alternate self dives into the fight, blue blades clashing, and Anakin hisses, falling back toward the open window. This is not _at all_ what he'd been expecting from his alternate. Couldn't he see the evil in Sidious? Didn't he know that Sidious was threatening the balance of the Force?

Not that the Jedi were entirely better themselves, but Anakin doesn't want to see the Force tip over into darkness, either.

Lashing out with a Force-aided push, Anakin frees himself from the threat of his alternate self for a moment, long enough to leap up into the frame of the window. It's already shattered, so if he must, he can leap - though he can almost hear Maul shouting at him about his lack of planning, and Obi-Wan's muttered _oh no, not again._

Anakin can feel the shift in the room just before Sidious brings up a hand, Force-lightning sparking from his fingertips. He hadn't liked it last time, and he grimaces as he twists, bringing one lightsaber up to deflect it. Jumping into Coruscant air-traffic is sounding more appealing now, when his other options are being skewered by himself or being electrocuted by a Sith.

"I'll tell my Master you said hello!" Anakin grins at the moment of confusion on Sidious's face before he steps backward, plummeting down into the empty space around 500 Republica. This is not going at all how he expected it to go.

_Masters, I hope you can figure out what went wrong when I killed the old man the **first** time, and get me out of this._

Anakin lets the Force guide his plummet, grinning at the flashes of shock on the faces of drivers as he drops through traffic lanes. He uses it to cushion his landing, as well, next to figure in familiar robes who is half-leaning against a wall. The Jedi seems to be absent a hand, and stinks of electrical discharge, but alive - fallen from the same place Anakin had, he can't help but think.

Clipping his sabers to his belt, Anakin approaches the Jedi carefully. Any of them with sense will be able to feel the hints of Darkness that are as much a part of him as his Force-use, and he doubts they'll be particularly happy about it.

"You're not Skywalker." The Jedi is alive, then, and is watching him with a frown that is more than just pain or confusion.

"My name is Anakin Skywalker, but I'm not from around here." And definitely not the twisted, foolish, _lost_ being who'd knelt to Sidious in the office he'd taken a dive from. "Are you going to throw things at me if I come closer?"

"Not unless you're planning to kill me."

"The Order is full of fools, but they don't de...." Anakin cuts off when he feels a shock-wave of death in the Force, screaming inside his head as thousands died in a single moment.

"No."

He's not sure who the croaking voice came from, falling to his knees as another wave of screaming deaths washes over him. Shaking his head, and struggling to keep breathing steadily as his heart begins to pound with the rage swirling up inside him. He had once wanted to be a Jedi, and he'd never stopped thinking they were some of the best people in the galaxy, fools included. Feeling them die reminds him that he is very much not a Jedi, nor ever was meant to be one.

Drawing in a shuddering breath, he grits his teeth as a third wave comes - less than the previous two, but still vicious and biting - and pushes to his feet through it. He can't go back to the Chancellor's office and turn this Sidious into a corpse the way he had done the Sidious in his own universe. Not yet, not when he doesn't have a good idea of what's happening here.

"Let's get you somewhere safe, Master."

He turns to the Jedi as he speaks, taking a step closer so he can wrap one hand around the man's elbow and pull him to his feet. There's a wariness in the Jedi's gaze that he dismisses, studying the street around them. It's one of the lower levels of Coruscant, though still above the planetary surface.

"How far to the Temple, if it's still in one piece here?"

"It was still standing when I left it earlier." The Jedi sounds worried - and feels dismayed in the Force. Anakin isn't certain if it's whatever caused the wariness earlier, or if it's a reaction to his question. "If the Sith is planning to kill the Jedi, it's not going to be safe for long."

"There are ways in and out below planetary surface. Master Jinn told me about them, though I've never actually seen them." Anakin doesn't relax his grip on the Jedi, feeling the tremble beneath his fingers that comes from more Force-use than the body is accustomed to handling. And from fear, but he doesn't feel that coming from the Jedi. "And once the outer walls and the towers are collapsed over the obvious entries, it'll be safe for months, at least." He pauses. "Unless my alternate here knows more about those underground passages than I do."

"No one's had time to teach Skywalker those tunnels." The Jedi tries to shake him off, moving toward the Temple, his emotions in more turmoil now than a moment ago. "And there isn't any way to collapse part of the Temple without destroying the whole thing."

"Tell the Masters who died to make sure Sidious would never have the Temple that." Anakin keeps pace with the Jedi, though he wants to run, to move faster. "Do you have any way to warn them about trouble coming?"

"My communicator broke when I landed, and I doubt the Chancellor is going to leave any frequencies open."

Drawing another deep breath, Anakin shakes his head. "He wouldn't, not with as much warning as he got. Didn't anyone have the sense to even _ask_ Maul who taught him?"

"Who?"

Anakin stops abruptly, dragging the Jedi to a halt with him. "Maul. The Zabrak Sith Lord on Naboo during the blockade. The one who tried to kill Obi-Wan, and Master Jinn."

"Obi-Wan killed the Sith on Naboo after the Sith killed Qui-Gon." The Jedi is staring at him with an expression that's as blank as a mask, and his presence in the Force is quieter now, as if a wall has been slammed up. "At least he thought he did. There's been reports that suggest that wasn't quite true."

Anakin stares, struggling to keep his emotions under control, and only vaguely aware his fingers have gone slack on the Jedi's elbow. "Maul was never captured and brought to the Temple?"

"No."

Taking a step back, Anakin lets go of the Jedi, running his hand through his hair instead. Trying to keep his breathing under control even as his heart pounds.

"And Master Jinn is dead."

"Yes." The Jedi is watching him with the wariness creeping back into his Force-presence again, trickling out from beneath his shields as if he doesn't have the strength to keep them up.

"Who taught my alternate?" He can only hope it was Obi-Wan, but without Maul to balance him, to keep prodding Anakin about his feelings, Anakin doesn't know how he could have managed. He's not sure how his own Obi-Wan and Maul didn't decide to kill him and deal with Sidious themselves, some days. He's not a nice person, and he's not an easy person, even when he's aware of it.

"Obi-Wan."

"Alone." He shakes his head. "How did he manage not to lose my alternate to the Sith sooner?" Shaking his head again, he doesn't wait for an answer, catching the Jedi's elbow again and walking toward the Temple faster. "Tell me later."

A Padawan is leading several younglings out of one of the lower entrances when they arrive, and Anakin doesn't even stop to think, just asks how many are still inside. The girl smiles at him, her expression both frightened and relieved as she looks between him and the Jedi with him. Whatever is happening, the Temple is no longer the sanctuary Anakin had hoped for.

"I don't know. Master Ti told me to keep these younglings together and get them out." Her voice is shaking, and she is staring at the Jedi's missing hand. "Master Windu, what happened?"

"A Sith and a corrupted Jedi." Windu - Mace Windu, he must be, though Anakin hadn't met the Councilor of his own universe to be able to recognize him on sight - meets Anakin's gaze. "See who else is in there, Skywalker, and make sure anyone else you see gets out." He pauses, narrowing his eyes. "And please don't go looking for trouble."

"There's enough trouble that might come looking for me." Anakin shrugs, grinning a moment. "I'll do what I can, Master Windu. Don't wait for me here. I'll find you later."

How much he can do is the question, when he can feel the wash of death even here - not as concentrated in time, and easier to miss feeling when they happened, but an echo of pain and despair that weighs against him as he moves toward the upper levels. There are a few more Padawans with frightened younglings in tow, and he does what he can to calm them and make sure they know how to get out before he moves forward again.

Reaching the main entrance hall, Anakin stumbles, putting out one hand to catch himself against the wall. There are bodies - some are armored, with blasters still in hand, felled by reflected shots or lightsabers, others robed familiarly and riddled with blaster-shots - scattered all across the marble floor. Some of them still have Padawan braids or beads, and Anakin can feel his rage welling up at the senseless slaughter.

A sharp smile crosses his face as he lets himself feel, draws the Force closer as he takes a deep breath of air tainted with blood and smoke. Reaching one hand up to flip his hood over to hide his face, he steps over bodies as he picks his way deeper into the Temple. The Force is tugging him, jangling at his nerves with a swell of danger that pushes him in one direction. Toward one of the speeder bays, he thinks, and into an ambush of armored men who don't hesitate to open fire.

His saber gleams the same red as blaster bolts, reflecting them back toward the soldiers as he darts forward. There's a Padawan, a boy who is running for a speeder parked outside, and some of the soldiers are focused on him. Anakin shakes his head, reaching out one hand and the Force, shoving soldiers off-balance to spoil their aim.

It's the work of moments to destroy the squad, and the boy is staring at him as Anakin shuts his lightsaber off.

"Are you all right, Padawan?" He glances past the boy at the man standing next to the speeder, the face registering after a moment, though the Bail Organa of home has been dead for several months. It's good to see him alive here.

"I am." The boy sounds wary, watching him approach. "You're not a Jedi. You don't feel like one."

"I'm not. But I'm not your enemy, either." Anakin hangs his lightsaber from his belt, jerking his chin in the direction of the speeder. "I don't think it's going to be safe to stay here, Padawan. I think His Highness is waiting for us."

The boy watches him for a brief moment longer before turning, running and jumping into the speeder with Anakin only a stride behind him. Organa gives him a long look before shaking his head, and moving the speeder away from the platform.

"Are you the only survivors?"

"This high up in the Temple, yes." Anakin keeps his hood up, watching the traffic around them as they race away from the Temple. "Master Windu, some Padawans, and younglings are down at the lowest entrances, the ones that aren't on any public map of the Temple. Aren't even known to all the Jedi, according to Master Windu."

"Master Drallig didn't tell me about hidden entrances." The boy is fishing for information, Anakin thinks, as well as confirming his assertation. "How many got out?"

"I think a little over twenty. I wasn't really counting how many I ran into." Anakin watches their approach, and leans forward. "Taking us back to the Senate building or 500 Republica would a very bad idea, Your Highness. The Sith is there, and I'm afraid I left on very bad terms not more than a few hours ago."

"Do you have somewhere better?" Organa doesn't turn to look at him, though he does at least change direction. "I'd have to go back to 500 Republica to get to my ship."

"Take us down a few levels, I'll make sure the Padawan and I meet up with Master Windu. It might be hard to get off Coruscant, but it's not impossible. We'll manage."

"I can make sure you have credits to hire a ship, or buy one outright, if you need them." Organa doesn't sound like he is happy about it - and Anakin thinks the Aldaraanian is worried about them, but he's not as certain of that as he might be of Jedi who aren't trying to shield.

"That might be useful, but traceable. I have some talents, I promise we'll manage. And I will make sure they're safe. As many as I can."

* * *

Once Organa has left them on a landing platform, Anakin moves quickly to get out of the main walkway, trusting the Padawan to keep close.

"I forgot to ask your name, Padawan."

"Zett Jukassa." The boy is nearly on his heels, and Anakin glances down at him a moment. There's worry, and a bit of fear, in the boy's expression. "You're General Skywalker. I've seen you on the holo-net."

"No, I'm not." Anakin grimaces, shifting so the boy is ahead of him as he ducks into an alley. "I'm not a Jedi, and I'm not your Skywalker. If you call me anything, call me Anakin. It's my name."

Zett is quiet a moment. "General Skywalker has a scar over his right eye, and he doesn't have a red lightsaber. Only the Sith have those."

"And me." Anakin snorts, watching the walkway they'd been on earlier. "I didn't have a lot of options for lightsaber crystals when I built my lightsabers. The artificial red ones were easer to get."

"Why didn't you go to Ilum to get new ones?" Zett is watching him, and Anakin shrugs one shoulder.

"It wasn't an option." Anakin holds up a hand before Zett can ask another question. "I need to try to contact Master Windu, and arrange a rendezvous. I need you to keep a watch on that entry to the alley, and let me know if we have trouble."

"How are you going to do that without a communicator?"

Anakin grins, leaning against one wall, the durasteel cold even through the layers he's wearing. "The Force can do a lot of things, if you know how, Zett. I won't be able to pay a lot of attention to things nearby if I'm going to contact Master Windu, though."

He's not actually certain what he's trying will work - neither he nor Master Windu is naturally a telepath, and he doesn't have a bond with Windu to counteract that - but he has to at least try. Younglings deserve a chance to learn more than how to die.

Closing his eyes, he draws a deep breath, taking long moments to settle into a meditative trance - he's never been good at this part of it, no matter how often he practices. Seeking out someone else in the Force is easier, but more dangerous when he knows there are at least two Sith on the planet who would really prefer the younglings didn't survive, much less Zett or Master Windu. Getting the other person to notice him without attracting unwanted attention? That's the trick, and Anakin hopes he manages to fly under Sidious's notice - his alternate might be less sensitive, if he's not meditating, but Anakin can't be certain of that.

_What the hell?_

Master Windu's thoughts are audible for a moment before he raises mental shields faster than Anakin can blink.

"Ow." He slams back into his body with a grimace, though he has enough information to find Master Windu, and from there, he can go looking for the younglings if they split up - he would have suggested that, if he'd been in Master Windu's place.

"Did it work?" Zett is crouched nearby, his back mostly to Anakin, though he glances back as he speaks.

"Sort of. Mostly." Anakin reaches up to rub his temples as the pain begins to subside to a managable level. He really needs to practice more, if he can't do something like that without backlash. "I know where Master Windu is, if we don't take too long to get there. Did your Master teach you how to cushion a landing with the Force?"

"No." Zett looks at him with a frown. "What are you going to do?"

"Take the quickest route down into the deeper parts of the city." Anakin reaches out to rest a hand on Zett's shoulder a moment. "I can keep us both from splatting, I just needed to know I would have to."

Anakin pulls Zett with him to the edge of one of the long drops, and grins at the Padawan a moment before jumping, wind rushing by him as he falls. It's exhilarating, and he takes a moment to revel in the sensation of free-fall before he touches the Force to steady his descent a little. Looking up, he sees Zett has followed his example, though there's a hint of sheer terror threading through Zett's Force-presence, and reaches out to make sure Zett's fall is stable as well.

They land on a lower walkway - not down to the surface, but deep enough into the city there are far fewer lights, and Anakin thinks they'll mostly pass unnoticed. He reaches out a hand to make sure Zett is steady on his feet, and catches the euphoria the Padawan is wrestling with.

"Enjoy it for the moment." Anakin grins at Zett's stare. "You don't have to let it go right away, no matter what the Jedi tell you. It's good to feel."

"And what if I get us killed?"

"You won't, and keeping you safe is my job." Now, since Zett's Master has to be dead in the Temple. Anakin tugs the boy closer, keeping him close as they start walking. "I promise, Zett. You won't be left alone again, and you're not going to die before you're knighted."

Anakin knows he can't promise anything after that, but unless someone takes really drastic measures, he's not going to leave a Padawan in danger. Even if he has to take Zett on as his own apprentice, of which he doesn't know if anyone here or at home would approve. It doesn't matter, though, not if there's few choices. Someone has to teach him, and Anakin doesn't know how many Jedi might be left here.

He can feel the surprise from Zett, but pretends not to notice as they make their way further into the warren of walkways that wind between the bases of tall buildings. Hopefully making their way to a rendezvous with Master Windu.

"Are there even enough of the Council left to arrange Trials or Knightings?" Zett's voice is quiet, just audible over the background hum of the city.

"Master Windu is still alive." Anakin shrugs. "My masters didn't look to the Council to decide when my training was done. They decided it themselves." And if he trains Zett, he will decide when the Padawan is ready to be on his own, and call himself Jedi Knight or whatever he wants to call himself. "We'll figure it out together."

Zett doesn't respond to that, though Anakin can feel him mulling it over, and he lets the boy do so as he follows the thread of Force that draws him on toward Master Windu. He smiles sharply at a Weequay who is watching for marks for his little gang, shaking his head slightly. Letting some of the Dark Side swirl about him, the oppressively cold feel of it usually enough to keep all but the Force-null away from him.

"What are you doing?" Zett is watching him with the same wariness he'd had at the Temple, rubbing his arms to fend off the cold. "It feels wrong."

"For a Jedi, it would be." Anakin gestures the boy closer, wrapping the side of his cloak around Zett's shoulders. "It's meant to intimidate, and frighten. Maul taught me it."

"Who's Maul?" Zett glances up at him a moment, curiosity winding its way through the wariness.

"One of Sidious's former apprentices, and a Sith." Anakin lets Zett move away, amused at the thrill of fear that runs through the boy. "He's not here, or we wouldn't be running through the underworld of Coruscant."

He'd not be alone here - he might not be here at all - and while he and Maul might be running, Zett would have been safe in the Temple and Sidious dead. Or dead on the platform outside the speeder bay, slaughtered like the other Jedi.

Drawing a breath in, Anakin shakes his head, letting the dark images go into the chill that keeps them unmolested. Zett doesn't ask more questions, though his fear fades, drained away like water into sand, and he moves closer to Anakin again. Mulling over what Anakin's said, hopefully, and not dwelling on anything else.

He finds another place to drop further into the city, closer to where Master Windu is - waiting, Anakin thinks, rather than moving. It's several minutes before he stops, tilting his head, and tugging Zett to a halt as well. They're very close, but the Force is whispering that he needs to go a different direction.

Him, not Zett.

"Zett. When I tell you to run, don't look back." Anakin listens to the small sounds of the city around them fading away. Something is coming that none of the locals want to notice them.

"Master Anakin?" Zett sounds uncertain, and Anakin wrinkles his nose at the title he's been bestowed.

"You'll be fine, I promise. Someone's been following us for a little while." He thinks. He's not actually sure if they've been followed, or if whatever is coming just has the bad luck of being in the same place at the same time.

"You're not going to get yourself killed, are you?" Zett has a hand on his lightsaber, and a sense of determination. He's already seen one Master killed, likely, and Anakin can't blame him for not wanting to see someone else dead.

"No." Anakin ruffles Zett's hair before he gives him a small shove in the direction they'd been walking. "Keep going that direction, Master Windu will find you. And I'll catch up." He pauses, tilting his head as he listens to the threads of the Force. "If someone bothers you, try to imagine them being dropped into ice. It works on almost anyone."

"The dark side thing?" Zett screws up his face a moment in distaste, and Anakin grins, nudging Zett another step in the right direction.

"Yup." He turns to face the way they've come. "Run, Zett. Don't stop until you've found Master Windu."

His lightsabers light up the street better than the lamps, throwing red and blue shadows as he walks back the way they had come, listening to Zett's pounding footsteps retreat behind him. At least the boy had obeyed.

Anakin grins when the white-armored troopers come around a corner. "Hello. You know, one of my masters thought it was rude to toy with my enemies, and the other thought it was polite to avoid killing them right away." He pauses as he deflects the first blaster bolts, taking a Force-assisted leap toward one of the rooftops of the grimy buildings, reaching out for the Darkness that had become as welcome as the Light in his training.

The troopers are good, concentrating their firepower in an attempt to overwhelm him, and Anakin is hard-pressed to keep deflecting the bolts until he weeds out those who don't duck fast enough to avoid their returned fire. The rest, he begins to shove backward, trying to remember where he saw another drop. A good one, a few stories.

There are only two left by the time he finds one, the others lost to reflected blaster bolts and insufficiently rapid retreats from his blades when he drops back into the street. Anakin tilts his head a moment before he deactivates one saber, returning it to his belt before he reaches out to lift one of the troopers by the throat. Tightening the Force-choke as he dangles the trooper out over the drop.

"I don't like people who try to kill what is _mine_." He uses the still-lit lightsaber to deflect another bolt from the remaining trooper, sending the man down to the ground. He won't survive very long with the hole burned through his gut and spine.

The other saber is returned to Anakin's belt as well, and he uses the Force to shove the not-yet-dead clone over the drop, while the other goes limp in the grip of the Force. He grimaces, before dropping that one as well, listening to the crunch of the bodies hitting another walkway.

It doesn't take him long to catch up to Zett, who has found Master Windu, and is leading him back toward Anakin. Not the worst idea, nor the best, but one that makes Anakin smile, and ruffle Zett's hair again.

"I should have told you to wait for me if I wanted you to stay put, should I?"

Zett snorts, and shakes his head. "I wouldn't have, Master Anakin. You shouldn't have to fight alone."

Anakin meets Master Windu's gaze over the boy's head, and Windu raises an eyebrow in challenge, though to what, Anakin can't quite tell. "They're already taken care of, though, so no fighting today. We need to find somewhere safe to hole up until we can get off Coruscant." He pauses, glancing past Windu, and then asks, "Where are the younglings?"

"Safe." Master Windu doesn't elaborate on his answer, just turns to lead the way, whether to the younglings or somewhere else, and Anakin follows in his wake, nudging Zett to walk between them when he would have fallen back.

It's down another level and into what looks like an abandoned building that might once have held offices or apartments before they stop moving, Master Windu tilting his head at a door for one of them to open. There's a small room beyond, windowless and dimly lit, with a stack of bedrolls in one corner and what Anakin would wager are field rations in another. A bolt-hole.

"Lay out a couple of those, Padawan Zett." Master Windu leans against the wall once inside, and Zett hurries to do as he's told while Anakin makes sure the door won't be readily opened from the outside. "Skywalker, you have first watch."

"Of course." Anakin fishes a glow-stick out of one of his belt pouches, using the light to take a quick look at Master Windu while the older man is still upright, though his eyes are shut. "Are you all right?"

"No." Master Windu opens his eyes to give Anakin a brief, tired glare. "The only good thing about having my hand cut off with a lightsaber is it's not bleeding." That there's still pain from the injury is a given, and Anakin wouldn't be surprised if Master Windu was fighting shock. "Make sure we're not killed while I sleep, Skywalker. I'll be fine."

"I'll wake you for second watch." Anakin helps Master Windu slide down onto a bedroll, while Zett cocoons himself in another one as close as he can get to Master Windu without intruding on his blankets. Keeping close, either to protect or to feel safe enough to sleep. Anakin smiles, resting a hand on Zett's forehead a moment before he moves away, sitting so he's facing the door, and placing his lightsabers in front of him.

Waiting, and listening, and guarding.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to get off Coruscant without attracting the attention of the Sith?

"Senator Organa offered to provide a ship to get us off Coruscant. We'd just have to get to wherever he has it docked."

Zett's words catch Anakin's attention as he wakes, leaning against the wall with a bedroll wrapped around him. The room is still lit only by a glow-stick, though it's a fresh one, rather than the one he'd cracked at the start of his watch.

"And I said I'd find us a way off Coruscant." Anakin runs a hand through his hair, and shakes his head to clear the last of the cobwebs of sleep away. "I might not have the contacts I do at home, but I'm not lacking other skills to acquire a ship."

Master Windu is already shaking his head. "No. You look too much like our Skywalker, and someone will recognize you. Might ask why you're somewhere you're not expected to be."

That was something Anakin had not thought about, and he frowns a moment. "Or they might be too afraid to ask questions, if I look as if I know where I'm going."

"And do you know where you'd be going?" Master Windu is watching him with a solemn expression. "How much do you know about our Skywalker?"

"He's broken and lost and is far too fond of Sidious for comfort." Anakin tilts his head, narrowing his eyes. "What am I missing?"

"More than a little." Master Windu sighs. "How well do you know Senator Amidala in your universe?"

"Commander Amidala. Padmé." Anakin smiles a moment, knowing his expression is a little love-struck. "She and Sabé make the galaxy tremble, especially since she lost Naboo to the Empire's aggression."

Master Windu blinks, and frowns. "Sabé?"

"Her body-double when she was Queen of Naboo. They're called the face of hope now. No more body-doubles, just them in the paint and at the front lines calling for diplomacy as much as is possible." Anakin shakes his head. "Why?"

"Knight Skywalker is often in her company. Possibly the father of her child."

Anakin stares at Master Windu for a long moment. "Padmé is with Sabé, and they have about as much interest in me as Jabba the Hutt does in being honest."

Master Windu gives Anakin a skeptical look, shaking his head. "Whatever her relationships where you come from, Skywalker, here she's interested in you. And that relationship is easier to take advantage of than Senator Organa's generosity without calling undue attention to ourselves."

Anakin takes a deep breath, letting an old memory surface a moment, of seeing Padmé in a wedding gown and being so certain he's been the one to marry her. He'd let that dream go when he'd met her again, seen how close she was to Sabé, how much more she needed that than she needed him. Maybe the dream had never been about the Padmé he knew at all.

"She's here on Coruscant?"

"Her apartments are in 500 Republica, and she hasn't left the planet in the last few months."

With the unspoken implication that Master Windu thinks Anakin will be welcomed into those apartments, either by their owner or by those who attend her. Though that only accounts for Anakin himself.

"And what about you, Master Windu? Or Zett?" He smiles sardonically, refusing to entertain the idea of going alone. "Do you think I'd be able to get you both in there, too?"

"We can wait here for you to secure shelter from the Senator."

"No." Anakin shakes his head. "I know this is supposed to be safe, but I don't want to split up. There's too much risk."

"And how do you propose to get us there without running into clones, and the risk of being killed, or drawing attention to Senator Amidala?"

Anakin's smile softens, and he stands so he can pull off his faded black cloak, tossing it to Master Windu. "They won't fire at me, and I have a couple tricks up my sleeve to keep them from firing on either of you."

The same twist of the Force that had kept anyone from harming either him or Zett yesterday is easily enough expanded to keep any prying eyes from looking too closely at Master Windu under Anakin's cloak, or at Zett.

He looks over at Zett. "Just wear the shirt and the belt without all the extra pouches. Your lightsaber can go into your boot, or Master Windu can carry it on his belt, since no one should see it beneath the cloak."

Master Windu looks skeptical, but he sheds his own tabards and tunic as well, leaving them behind with his cloak, Anakin's own falling only to his ankles rather than to the ground. It's enough, with the hood up to hide who he is, and he takes the rear, with Zett between them as Anakin leads the way out into the hallway.

Anakin listens to the footsteps of his companions as he reaches out to the Force, drawing the darkness to cloak them in cold and threat. Zett hisses, but keeps pace, scurrying along almost on Anakin's heels, while Master Windu falters a moment before catching up.

"It's one of the first things Maul taught me." Anakin keeps his voice low so he won't be overheard as they step out into the street. "This and the inversion, to hide under the noses of others."

"Why not use that?" Master Windu's voice is just audible, and there's a thread of tension running under it. "We don't want to be noticed."

"I want them to notice me." Anakin smiles at the snort from Master Windu. "If everyone sees me, they'll ignore you as shadows or minions."

He hopes it will work that way, at least, as they work their way up into the upper reaches of the city. Certainly it keeps people from approaching them, though he avoids any sign of white-armored troops in case the trick doesn't work well enough on them.

It even ensures they have one of the lifts to themselves, though Anakin is glad to let it go once the doors shut, leaving them in a bubble of peace. "Where are the Senator's apartments?" His only experience with Coruscant before he'd found himself in a new universe had been with locating Sidious, and he's fairly certain he doesn't want to go to the top of the tower.

Master Windu reaches past him to key in the correct destination, letting the lift do the rest of the work. Anakin draws the darkness about them again once the lift slows, stepping out into the corridor, and following Master Windu's tersely given directions.

When the door opens, he stares for a long moment before pushing past the exclaiming C-3PO, who seems to be surprised he's back so swiftly. Mistaking Anakin for his counterpart, and he doesn't have time to listen to the droid's chatter, as much as he'd love to ask if his mother is all right in this universe, and not missing, sold into the depths of the Empire and vanished, or any myriad of questions.

An Empire that doesn't exist yet, and Anakin barely has time to remind himself of that before he catches sight of Padmé. She's staring at him with a frown from a doorway that Anakin would wager is to a bedroom, in a loose gown that doesn't hide the swell of her belly.

"I thought you wouldn't be back so soon, Anakin." She glances past him to Master Windu and Zett, who've followed him, the outer door shutting behind them. "And you said the Jedi betrayed the Republic."

Anakin runs a hand through his hair, smiling at her, though he knows the expression is awkward. Master Windu had mentioned that Padmé was pregnant, but it hadn't truly registered until he'd seen the evidence himself. What had broken his counterpart so badly he'd been willing to kneel to Sidious, and betray what he already had?

"We didn't betray the Republic!" Zett bursts out, and Anakin can feel the rush of hurt mixed with anger from his accidental apprentice, as well as Zett's attempt to let it go. "Senator," he adds after a beat of silence, still struggling with his emotions.

Turning away from Padmé, Anakin reaches out to Zett, offering comfort. "It's ok to feel, Zett. Let it run its course." He shifts slightly to brace himself when Zett moves to cling to him, wrapping his arms around Anakin's waist as he hides his face. Hiding tears, Anakin thinks, and he holds Zett while the boy cries.

"You're not Anakin." Padmé has taken a step away from the doorway, and is watching him with a deeper frown than before. "Why do you look like him?"

"I am Anakin Skywalker." Anakin draws a deep breath, the corners of his mouth quirking up a moment. "Just not your Anakin. It's a bit of a story, and I don't know if we have time for it. I need a way to get Master Windu and Zett off Coruscant before Sidious and your Anakin find out they're not dead, and try to kill them again."

He looks over at Master Windu, frowning a moment. "Do we also need to arrange transport for the younglings we got out of the Temple?"

"I already did, last night." Master Windu lowers the hood of his borrowed cloak. "They were safely away before you woke this morning."

"Who is Sidious? What is going on?" Padmé comes toward them, though she keeps a careful distance between herself and Anakin.

"Sidious is the Sith Master." Anakin lets Zett go when he stiffens a little, patting him on the shoulder as he takes a step back. "He's been working to control the Republic since before I was born, though at home, he'd already been Emperor for years by now."

At least, to judge by the age of his counterpart. He doesn't know what the difference is that meant Sidious didn't take control earlier, though it's just one more difference between this place and home.

"Can I trust you, Anakin?" Padmé's expression is caught between confusion and desperate hope. "How is this possible? Why are you here?"

"I don't know." Anakin spreads his hands, with a quick, confused smile of his own. He has some ideas about how he ended up here, but he doesn't _know_ , and testing the one idea will be difficult with Sidious aware of his existance. "I didn't plan on being in a universe not my own. I'd like to return home, to my masters and my friends, but until I know how, I'll make the best of being here. Do what I can to make this galaxy less of a maze of battle-lines than home.

"I don't know if you'll trust me, but the only person since I got here who trusts me entirely is myself, so you'd be in varied company."

He pauses, meeting Padmé's gaze squarely, hoping she's alike enough to the Padmé he knows to do what he'll ask of her. Regardless of the personal risk or consequence. "Master Windu suggested asking you for help because you and your Anakin are close. I'm asking because I know Commander Amidala at home would not hesitate - and if you can't help, all I'd ask for next is where to find Prince-Consort Organa.

"We need transport for three off Coruscant, and preferably outside of the Inner Rim, as well." All the way to the Outer Rim would be best, but Anakin isn't going to ask her to take them that far unless she offers.

Padmé blinks, glancing past Anakin to Master Windu a moment. "I can't leave Coruscant, not yet. I promised I would wait for Anakin to return." She reaches out a hand, but pulls back before she touches Anakin. "My ship has rations and bunks, if you're willing to wait. And it should be safe."

"Only so long as your Anakin doesn't check it before traveling with you." Anakin doesn't want to put any of them in greater danger if his counterpart here finds him. Especially not Zett, or the child Padmé is carrying.

"He has a fighter." Padmé smiles a little, though it doesn't touch her eyes. "I can ask him to fly escort, to make me feel safer with everything that's happening." She wraps her arms around herself, blinking rapidly. "I'll take you as far as Naboo. You should be safe there."

It's far enough, and more than Anakin had really expected - hoped for, perhaps - and he nods. "We'll be able to find transport further out if we need to." He smiles, reaching out but not touching Padmé. "Thank you, Padmé."

They'll go to Tatooine or Serreno, maybe out to Belkadan, if they can acquire a ship, rather than merely transport.

"My lady?"

Anakin turns at the new voice, putting himself between Zett and the newcomer - Eirtaé, he thinks after a moment - without conscious thought. She frowns at him, a brief furrow between her brows before she refocuses on Padmé, her expression apologetic.

"My lady, the Chancellor's office just sent a message. He's calling for a special session of the Senate tomorrow morning. You're expected to be there."

It takes several deep breaths not to snarl out loud at the mention of Sidious - Palpatine, Chancellor than Emperor - though Anakin doesn't bother to try to release the anger to the Force. Too much, and Sidious will notice, and he cannot let himself be found, not yet. Not while he has Zett and Master Windu to protect.

Nor can he face Sidious alone again, not until he has a better idea of what had happened that sent him here, rather than remaining at home. Perhaps even then, he shouldn't do it alone, when he's not as certain of the skills and abilities of this Sidious.

"Thank you, Dormé." She pauses, glancing at Anakin again, then smiles brightly, though there's still too many shadows in her eyes for it to seem real. "Would you make sure Ani and his friends get to my ship safely, and unseen?"

"Of course, my lady." Dormé frowns at Anakin again, concern coming through clearly in the Force. "Does he need a speeder?"

"A speeder and a guide, and it's a long story that I can tell later." Anakin gives her his best smile, hoping to put her at ease. "Please."

Dormé nods, though her concern and confusion don't fade. At least she doesn't ask more questions, though she does leave the driving to him, as if she expects he would want to take the controls anyway. It is nice to fly again, for all that it's a brief enough trip to the landing platform where Padmé's ship is.

"We'll be fine here, until Padmé is ready to leave. Thank you." Anakin smiles at Dormé again once Master Windu and Zett are safely on the ship. He waits for her to leave before he turns away, slipping quietly onto the ship himself, finding the small lounge where the other two are waiting. "At least now we don't have to worry too much about someone finding us."

"I hope not." Master Windu slumps against the table, visibly weary for a long moment before he draws himself back together. It's a bit of trust that makes Anakin smile, and relax some himself. "This ship has no weapons, and poor defenses if someone figures out we're on board."

"It has us." Anakin glances at Zett, who looks as tired as Master Windu. "Zett. Go find a bunk, get some sleep."

Zett opens his mouth, though if he intends to protest, it doesn't get past the yawn, and his teeth click as he shuts his mouth again. Giving Anakin a sheepish smile, he heads for the corridor that Anakin assumes leads to cabins.

"What about you?" Master Windu watches Anakin as he sits down across from the Jedi. "You haven't had any more sleep than he has."

"Or you." Anakin shrugs. "I'll sleep better once we're away from Coruscant, and I can manage on naps until then." Once they're on Naboo, and as safe as they can get without getting out of Republic space - soon to be Imperial space, he's sure, with the mass deaths of Jedi to signal the success of Sidious in his plans .

Master Windu snorts, tilting his head in acknowledgement and possibly agreement. Even here, where they should be as safe as they can get without getting off-planet, it's still Coruscant, and there's still at least one Sith too close for comfort.

* * *

"Did you know?"

Anakin opens his eyes, settling back into the waking world from his meditation when he hears Padmé speak, looking up to meet her gaze. He can feel her fear and worry in the Force, tinged with anger, though he isn't certain of the source.

"Did you know what Obi-Wan came to tell me earlier? That Anakin - my Anakin - had murdered younglings in the Temple? That he'd turned to the Dark Side?"

"That he'd knelt to Sidious, to the Sith, yes. It was hard to miss." Anakin grimaces at that first memory of this twisted universe. "I didn't know he had led the assault on the Temple, though I'm not surprised. Some of the bodies - the dead Jedi - had lightsaber wounds on them, not blaster marks."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Padmé reaches out for the pilot's seat, dropping heavily into it. "Why?"

Anakin looks down, studying the boots on Padmé's feet for a long moment. "I told you he would kill Master Windu, and Zett, if he found us. I didn't think I needed to say more, not then." He looks up again, a self-depricating smile on his face. "What good would it have done, anyway? You have a baby to look out for, and I don't know what your Anakin might do if you confront him about what he's done."

"But you're Anakin, too."

"I'm not him. I had Maul, as well as Obi-Wan to teach me. Qui-Gon is still alive. And I have Commander Amidala as a dear friend, but never..." He shakes his head, gesturing at her helplessly. "She has Sabé. They don't need a third, and they've never expressed a desire for one.

"I don't know what he'll do. I don't know who he has to rely on, but I doubt he trusts very many people, not if Sidious could get in his head and sway him."

Padmé bites her lip, shaking her head. "He can trust me, and he should be able to trust Obi-Wan."

"But would he?" Anakin runs a hand through his hair. "Why are you here, anyway? I thought you were going to stay on Coruscant until your Anakin returned."

"I can't." Padmé shakes her head again. "I can't just wait for him to come back. I have to make sure he's safe."

"Safe from who?" Anakin pushes to his feet as Padmé turns to the controls, moving to take the co-pilot's seat. "Why do you need to go to him, my lady?"

"Obi-Wan is hunting him."

Padmé starts the ship easily, and Anakin looks over his shoulder as he hears the lift again, C-3PO giving every impression of surprise when he sees Anakin in the seat next to Padmé.

"Here, I can let Threepio take the co-pilot's seat. I should make sure Zett and Master Windu know we're not going directly to Naboo. Or at least, I assume not, unless your Anakin intended to go there?"

"No. He's not there." Padmé looks up at him a moment, giving him a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Please, just stay inside when we land. All of you. Stay here, where he can't see you."

"There are ways of hiding in plain sight. He wouldn't see me at all. And if there's any worry for your safety, I'd rather be close enough to do something."

"He wouldn't hurt me." Padmé shakes her head. "I know he wouldn't."

Anakin knows there's very little that could convince him to hurt Amidala at home, and he hopes Padmé is right about her Anakin. He lets out a quiet breath, and nods. "I'll stay here, when we land, then. Where I can see, but won't easily be seen."

Padmé smiles, brief and wan, before she nods, turning back to the controls. Taking them off the platform, and smoothly past the lanes of traffic.

Watching until they've cleared the atmosphere, Anakin turns away, wrapping the Force closely about himself to hide the way Maul taught him. He should show Master Windu and Zett the same trick, so they don't risk discovery by proximity.

Down on the lower deck, he pauses a moment as he moves toward the back, frowning at the vague sense of familiar Force-presence, though it vanishes quickly. He shakes his head, continuing back toward the cabins, finding the one Zett's in first, and knocking.

"Zett?"

It's a moment before the door opens, Zett peering out at him with a small frown. "What are you doing? It feels like you're not even here."

"Hiding." Anakin smiles a moment, shrugging. "Do you want to learn how?"

"Is it like the thing you did earlier? With the cold and dark?" Zett shifts on his feet, a small frown on his face.

Anakin crouches down so he's more on Zett's eye level, watching his expression, and listening to the Force. "I learned how to hide from Maul, and he learned it from his Master, but I don't think it's actually a Dark Side technique. Just something the Jedi have forgotten is even possible."

"Are you going to teach Master Windu how to hide like this too?" Zett reaches out a hand, poking Anakin in the shoulder as if to reassure himself that Anakin's really there, and not some illusion.

"If he wants to learn how, then I don't see why not." Anakin quirks one corner of his mouth up in a grin. "It's useful, even if the people around you aren't able to use the Force. They tend to forget you exist."

A faint vibration runs through the decking as the ship jumps into hyperspace, though where they're headed, Anakin isn't certain. He should have asked Padmé that before coming down here.

"I should ask Master Windu if he wants to learn as well, so I can teach you both at the same time." Anakin pushes to his feet, holding out his hand for Zett to take. "The Senator isn't going directly to Naboo, but to find Knight Skywalker first."

Zett's hand tightens around his, and Anakin squeezes back, silent promise he won't let his alternate do anything to harm Zett - or Master Windu, for that matter.

The cabin next to Zett's is a little larger, and Master Windu takes one look at him when Anakin knocks on the door, and waves them both inside.

"Did Skywalker already return to Coruscant?" Master Windu waves them to sit on the floor with him, and Anakin waits for Zett to pick a place before he sits at the third point of the triangle.

"No. Senator Amidala said she had a visit from Obi-Wan, and he's hunting my alternate. She wasn't happy I neglected to tell her that her Anakin had fallen prey to the Sith." Anakin looks down, shaking his head. "I didn't know how to tell her that earlier. It sounds like your Obi-Wan had no such problems."

"Did she tell you where we're going?"

"No, and I forgot to ask." Anakin shrugs one shoulder, looking up with a self-depricating smile. "I thought it would be a little more important to tell you who would be where we're going, and teach you and Zett how to hide like this. I don't know if Skywalker will be able to feel our presence when we arrive wherever it is, but I'd rather not find out the hard way."

"Neither would I." Master Windu watches Anakin for a long moment before reaching out carefully with his hand, the Force following his gesture, and sliding over and around Anakin's shielding. "How do you avoid creating a void in the Force?"

"Obi-Wan described it like wrapping up in the Force and hiding in it. I just..." Anakin shrugs. "I don't even have to think about it very hard to do this. It takes more effort to do it with someone else, which is why I like the other way of keeping people away better. It's easier with more than one person."

"And you plan to teach us both this before we arrive wherever Skywalker is hiding?" Master Windu gives Anakin a skeptical look.

"I thought it might easier to show you how it looks from the inside?" Anakin grins sheepishly. "It's not impossible to do with more than one person, and then you get to see how it looks from this side of the shielding."

Master Windu nods, drawing his hand back to rest it on his knee, waiting patiently for Anakin. All the serenity a Jedi Master is supposed to have, and Anakin wonders that he's managing that so soon after everything had fallen apart. Or if he's just hiding his grief beneath a mask, or burying it to deal with later when there's time, like Anakin is trying to do.

Taking a deep breath, Anakin pushes that thought aside, and closes his eyes to better see what he's doing. Reaching out to Master Windu, offering an ephemeral hand to create a temporary and tenuous bond that is enough to make extending the shielding simpler. Unraveling and reweaving the shield as he wraps it around Master Windu, fractal patterns dancing across his mind as he settles it around them so there are no gaps for someone to find a hint of presence and pry the shielding apart.

It takes a little longer to do the same around Zett, though the bond feels less temporary than the other, and more akin to the one Anakin shares with his masters. No matter what it may mean, it is at least enough to allow him to show them both how the shielding works, to let them see the patterns and threads that go into making them seem like nothing more than the flow of the Force itself.

"It's pretty." Zett sounds a little dazed, and Anakin opens his eyes to check that the boy doesn't look any worse for being wrapped up like this.

"It is interesting." Master Windu is looking around them with narrowed eyes. "You learned this from Kenobi?"

"From Maul." Anakin shrugs when Master Windu frowns at him. "He taught Obi-Wan, too. Like I told Zett, I don't think it actually originated with the Sith, just that the Jedi forgot how to do this. Why would they need to know how to hide? They won."

"You think it was lost around the Rusaan Reforms?" Master Windu raises an eyebrow, settling back again, and closing his eyes, though Anakin doubts he's stopped looking at the shield.

"It would make sense. Or maybe earlier, during the war that destroyed the majority of the Sith." Anakin pauses, looking down a moment, a wry smile crossing his face a moment. "Yoda didn't know how to hide like this, when we met him on Serenno." Neither had Master Windu of his own universe, but that Master Windu had been less willing to learn, too.

"He doesn't know here, either." Master Windu shifts slightly, and a moment later, Anakin feels him fade away, hiding behind his own shield. There's a whisper of something there, but it's elusive and faint.

"You did well for a first time, I think. I think if I moved more than a room away, I wouldn't be able to tell you were there, not with the Force." Anakin could test that, but he still has his own shield extended around both the Jedi.

"Good enough, for now." Master Windu opens his eyes again. "I think I might be able to keep Padawan Jukassa hidden, if he stays close. If he doesn't pick it up fast enough to hide himself."

Zett blinks when his name is mentioned, and his brow furrows a moment later in concentration. It's clumsier, almost patchy, and Anakin wishes he had a better idea how to teach this. If he had even a little of Obi-Wan's talent for teaching, it might be easier to explain.

Anakin frowns a moment, then holds out his hand to Zett, who frowns a moment before taking it. The physical contact makes it easier to use the bond between them to see what the shield looks like from the inside for Zett. It would be easier, too, to show him the way Maul had shown Anakin, but he doesn't want to do that unless he can't find any other way.

"Had you done anything with fractals in your maths class?" Anakin can see how Zett's tried to weave the shield more like the sort telepaths learned to protect themselves from the thoughts of others.

Nodding, Zett frowns, trying again to create the shield, creating something less patchy this time, though it still creates odd eddies in the Force. Not something that would necessarily be a person, but certainly something that would be curious to someone paying attention.

"Better." Anakin smiles, the praise easily given. "You'd still attract attention if someone's looking, but if you stay close to me, it shouldn't be a problem now." And there's still time to practice before they arrive wherever Skywalker is.

Zett nods again, and shifts a little closer, though he doesn't let go of Anakin's hand yet. Practicing, and keeping the thread of bond open so his efforts are visible to Anakin. For any corrections that he might give, Anakin suspects, though he notices nothing that needs correction, just refining, and that takes practice more than instruction.

"What else did you learn from the Sith?" Master Windu is watching Anakin now, his own shielding still keeping all but a tenous wisp of something hidden in the Force.

"What sort of things do you want to know about?" Anakin doesn't know where to start without knowing what Master Windu is looking for. Certainly not when he has a good idea what the Jedi would think of some of those techniques.

"Why were you learning from the Sith in the first place. You said Kenobi was there, as well. Why wasn't he your Master alone?"

Anakin lets out a huff of laughter, shaking his head. "You'd have to ask them why. They never liked each other, so I don't know why Obi-Wan bothered to break Maul out of the Temple in the first place." He knows what they had told him, but that's not something that he wants to share with Master Windu, not now.

"He was captured, rather than killed?" Master Windu frowns, as if he's wondering how that happened. It's hard to be certain without a Force-presence to listen to.

"Obi-Wan cut his saber-staff in half, and it's hard to defend against two Jedi, one of which is the best duelist of his generation, with only one blade." Anakin shrugs. "Maul is good, but he can't work miracles. Even with the choice of ground to fight on."

He'd only seen the flashes of red and green and blue as the fighter he'd been in had continued its auto-piloted exit from the hanger to join the rest of the ships in battle above Naboo, but he'd heard the story more than once since. The only thing he'd wondered since is why Maul hadn't betrayed Sidious when Sidious had abandoned him to whatever fate the Jedi decreed for him. Perhaps he'd seen the alliance with Obi-Wan and training of Anakin as betrayal enough.

"And Kenobi later released him from custody." Master Windu shakes his head. "I can't see him doing that."

Anakin shrugs, not wanting to touch that. Perhaps Obi-Wan here, grieving the loss of Qui-Gon, might have chosen to kill Maul, but he has as hard a time envisioning that as Master Windu apparently has at seeing Obi-Wan being willing to work with Maul.

Master Windu doesn't ask another question right away, and when he does speak, it's only to tell Anakin that perhaps he ought to see where they're going while he and Zett continue to practice the shielding technique he's demonstrated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in this chapter posting; I spent the last week sick and without the spoons to post anything.

Padmé is still spilling worry into the Force when he returns to the cockpit, her gaze fixed somewhere in the middle distance. Not really watching the shifting streaks of hyperspace, nor focused on anything inside the ship. Anakin frowns, hesitating a moment before he reaches out to touch her shoulder.

She startles, and he steadies her so she doesn't fall out of the chair. "I didn't hear you come back up."

"I noticed." He crouches, hoping that it puts her at ease a bit to not have him looming over her. "I forgot to ask where we're going, earlier. Master Windu thought it important enough to ask me to come back and ask you."

"Why not come ask himself?" Padmé has a small frown, and Anakin smiles at her, trying to keep her from worrying more.

"I was teaching them one of the ways I know to keep people from noticing me. He wanted time to practice, and to make sure Zett could manage it on his own." Anakin reaches out a hand, though he hesitates at touching Padmé until she rolls her eyes, taking his hand in hers. "He did very well for his first try, and Zett isn't doing badly, either."

"That's good." Padmé rubs her thumb across the back of his hand, staring at it for a long moment. "My Anakin lost his right arm to Dooku, during the very beginning of the war. How did you keep it?"

"The war began while I was with Obi-Wan and Maul on Belkadan, and by the time we left, the Republic had fallen and the Empire risen from its ashes. Dooku and the Confederacy are the only safe haven the Jedi have at home." Anakin squeezes Padmé's fingers gently.

Shivering, Padmé returns the squeeze, holding on tightly for a long moment. "A lot of Jedi died fighting Dooku here."

"War isn't kind to the Jedi, here or there." Anakin holds out his other hand, and Padmé takes it with a small smile. "It's not kind to anyone, be they Senators or Commanders, or just rank-and-file soldiers and droids. It hasn't made you less beautiful anywhere you are, though."

Padmé smiles again, though it seems more gently flattered than the amused he had been going for. "You're very kind."

Anakin shrugs. "Perhaps." He pauses, giving both of Padmé's hands a gentle squeeze. "Where are we going, Padmé?"

She looks down for a long moment before meeting his gaze again. "Chancellor Palpatine sent Anakin to find the Separatist leaders on Mustafar."

"That little moon? It's a bit young to put any sort of government building." Anakin frowns. "How deeply did Sidious have his hooks in Dooku?"

"I don't know." Padmé closes her eyes, her smile fading back into the worry from before. "He can't have his hooks so deeply into my Anakin that I can't bring him back. Can he?"

Anakin lets out a little huff of laughter. "I don't know." He's afraid it's likely, but he can't take that hope away from Padmé. It's the best chance she has of doing what she wants. "I hope you can sway him back, or at least away from Sidious. The Dark Side isn't evil, but it's very easy to do evil when using it alone, and it takes a great deal of strength to keep your feet in it."

"Do you think he can?" Padmé opens her eyes, and Anakin almost can't keep up his own facade in the face of the desperate hope shining in them.

"Maybe. If he has something to hold onto." Anakin draws in a deep breath, tightening his grip on Padmé's hands a bit. "Don't let him go."

"I won't." Padmé smiles, tremulous and brief, but it's real, and that's enough. She pulls her hands from his grip, and Anakin lets her, watching as she turns back to the controls, checking their timing. "We still have hours before we're there. You should rest."

"So should you." Anakin pushes to his feet, and holds out one hand again. "I can watch the controls for now, and wake you when we're close. I'll rest then."

"Will you?" Padmé gives him a long look, and Anakin shrugs.

"Perhaps. And I might nap here, too. It wouldn't be the first time I've slept in a pilot's seat."

Padmé lets out a quiet sigh, shaking her head, but she takes his hand, letting him pull her up, and escort her to the lift. "Wake me when we're an hour out from Mustafar, Anakin. Promise me."

"I will. You've my word." Anakin keeps a smile on his face until Padmé's left, and turns away to take the empty pilot's seat. Something doesn't feel right, and he doesn't know what.

"Are you planning to rest while here?" Threepio turns to look at him, though the droid had been politely ignoring him before. It's nice to know the droid he'd made for his mother still existed in at least one universe.

"Perhaps. I don't know that I'll sleep at all." Anakin doesn't know how much rest he actually got when they were hiding, though it had been enough to keep him going. A few hours, at least. Another nap might do him good, but he's on edge. The strange eddy in the Force earlier, perhaps, and the worries about what they'll find when they arrive on Mustafar. "If I do, don't let me oversleep."

"Of course." Threepio turns his attention back to the controls, paying attention to the autopilot more than to Anakin.

Taking a deep breath, Anakin closes his eyes, reaching out to the Force, and letting himself be tugged along the currents. Maul had always frowned at this part of his training, with Obi-Wan encouraging him to listen to what the Force could tell him about potential futures. Not just the immediate future, the outcome of a battle, but beyond that, to fates of planets and outcomes of wars. Potentials, and often more than one, but still there to be seen.

_Reds and oranges glow against midnight black, and he can see flashes of blue and blue-white coming closer. Two men, locked in combat on the tiny surface of some sort of repulsor sled, with matching blue lightsabers. One leaps from the sled onto the bank he stands on, panting and exhausted, but still upright. It takes a moment to see clear who it is, Obi-Wan somehow harder and colder than Anakin remembers._

_"It's over, Anakin!" Obi-Wan is entirely focused on the black-clad man still on the sled. It's almost easier to reconize Anakin's own counterpart. Vader, the name comes from the Force. The name given to him by Sidious. "I have the high ground!"_

_He does, and Anakin wouldn't make that sort of foolish move. Let the sled pass on and live to fight another day. But there is hate burning in his counterpart's gaze, and fury too great to be controlled. "You underestimate my power!"_

_Anakin shakes his head, trying to shake free of the vision. It's a future he doesn't want to see. This isn't him, can't be him._

_"Don't try it." Obi-Wan is shaking his head, and Anakin takes a step back, reaching for lightsabers that he doesn't have here._

_Even a Force-assisted jump isn't enough to keep his counterpart from the reach of Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and Anakin reaches out, shouting negation as he watches Obi-Wan slice off first his counterpart's hand, then both legs. But that horror is eclipsed when Obi-Wan doesn't follow through, doesn't end the misery and pain that comes with those devestating injuries._

_That he turns off his lightsaber, and stands there watching. Shouts words that Anakin can't hear over his own mental scrabbling for exit, for reality, not this mad vision. **Walks away** , as Anakin's counterpart burns. No. No, this can't be. This **cannot** be._

"Anakin!"

The shout is more than one voice, and Anakin jolts from the vision, panting as if he's been running - or fighting - for hours. Padmé is standing just out of arm's reach, and Zett is watching him from only a little closer, confusion on their faces.

"I'm all right. I'm here." Anakin tries to calm his racing heart, running a hand through his hair to find it sweat-soaked. "How much longer to Mustafar?"

"Another two hours, Master Anakin." Zett takes a step closer, still visibly confused. "The droid - Threepio - asked the Senator to come up because you were shouting in your sleep. Master Windu sent me up with her."

But didn't come himself, which means he either knew there was no danger, or assumed so. Anakin grimaces, not sure if he likes that or not.

"I wasn't sleeping." Anakin tries to get up, and falls back down into the seat with a soft grunt. "I was meditating."

Zett snorts, reaching out to grab his hand, though Anakin doesn't try to stand up again quite yet. "That didn't look like meditating."

"It looked like a nightmare." Padmé is watching him with worry steadily replacing the confusion in her expression. "And you wouldn't wake."

Anakin wraps his fingers around Zett's hand, feeling him reach out along the thin training bond. Seeking reassurance that Anakin is all right, because he's still worried and confused. "Not all futures are pretty." Anakin grimaces, shivering a moment at the lingering and vivid images from the vision.

"What did you see?" Padmé's worry spikes, and Anakin leans forward, taking one of her hands in his free one, trying to convey reassurance. "Tell me."

"A fight without a clean kill, or any attempt at mercy. It's washed in red and orange and I couldn't see where exactly it was - I assume it's on Mustafar - nor was I certain who was fighting, though both carried lightsabers. One of them, I think, was your Anakin. The other, I never saw the face."

It is true, as far as it goes. That he had been certain the one is Obi-Wan, made into someone he doesn't really recognize, he can't tell Padmé. Especially since he doesn't know how Obi-Wan would know to go to Mustafar, or how he would get there. Perhaps is already there, with the destination lifted from Padmé's thoughts, and the vision isn't a future, but a now already happening.

Padmé smiles tightly, gripping his hand hard, but it's a long moment before she speaks. "Can you really keep him from seeing you? At all?"

"I can, though it's easier if I have somewhere to hide, rather than being out in the open." Anakin tugs gently on Padmé's hand, pulling her closer. He should stand and let her have the pilot's seat again. "It doesn't take long to get from here out to the rest of the ship. Just a quick trip down the lift. I can watch from here, and he won't notice me at all."

"You can't help if things go wrong, though, not quickly." Padmé presses her lips together, the worry and fear fading abruptly as if she's locking them away.

"If it's something that means I have to use a lightsaber, no. But the Force isn't going to be concerned about view ports and a ship in the way, not when I can see what I need to change." He rubs his thumb over her knuckles, smiling up at Padmé. "And if it looks like something is wrong when we land, I can go with you."

Padmé nods, letting out a quiet sigh, and Anakin squeezes her hand before letting go so he can stand, and let her have the seat. Zett is still holding tightly to his other hand, his own worry still not fading, though he feels less confused. Suspicious, though, as if he knows Anakin isn't telling Padmé the whole truth.

He doesn't say anything, and the rest of the trip to Mustafar passes in near-silence only broken by the whirrs of Threepio's servos when he moves. Anakin watches out the front viewport as they come in to land, shaking his head slightly at the glowing, fractured landscape. That there is a piece of land stable enough to hold this building up is a wonder.

There is movement outside, someone robed who is revealed as Anakin's counterpart when he throws back his hood. Anakin draws back a little, drawing shadows around him as much as he wraps the Force around himself and Zett, while Padmé drops the ramp, and heads for the lift.

"What if he hurts her?" Zett whispers, his gaze fixed on the scene below as Padmé embraces her Anakin, holding on tightly for a long moment.

"Unless he runs his lightsaber through her while keeping her close, I don't think there's much he can do that I can't do something about." Anakin shivers a little, the Force around him feeling chilled as the planet isn't. "It's not her I'm worried about."

"What didn't you tell Senator Amidala?" Zett looks up at him, and Anakin turns his head to meet Zett's gaze a moment before returning most of his attention to Padmé and her Anakin.

"The one who was turned away from me in the vision had Obi-Wan's face. He wasn't anything like the Obi-Wan I know, though." Anakin watches as Padmé takes a step back, and her Anakin frown. Vader, unfolding from the broken shell that Anakin had seen on Coruscant when he first arrived.

Flickers of orange and red dance at the edges of his vision, more than just the lava glow from around the platform, and Anakin shakes his head. Reaching out to the Force, he can only feel Darkness and cold, spinning in a stately dance like the formal court ones he's seen. He draws a shuddering breath, shaking his head again.

Padmé takes another step back, and Vader looks up. Not to the cockpit, but past Padmé, Anakin thinks. He tenses, tugging his hand free of Zett's grip. When Vader brings his hand up, Anakin snarls, reaching out in the Force to pry at the fingers wrapping around Padmé's throat. It doesn't draw Vader's attention to him, though, just gives her room to breathe a little.

When Obi-Wan appears, Anakin stops trying, turning instead as he wraps shadows tightly around him, and bolts for the lift. Zett skids in before he can slam the door shut, and Anakin takes a moment to make sure his new apprentice - no point to denying that now - is as well hidden as he can be. The lift opens into the little space just in front of the ramp, and Anakin is surprised that, despite all his hiding, neither Vader nor Obi-Wan notice him.

Too focused on each other, and the words they're exchanging. Anakin moves to the corridor that wraps around to the cabins, making sure Zett is out of the line of sight from the ramp before he shoves the boy further. "Go get Master Windu."

Zett doesn't argue, and Anakin turns his attention to the outside.

"I will do what I must." That's Obi-Wan, and he hears resignation and regret there, but it's not going to be enough, Anakin knows it.

"You will try." Vader's voice is rich with heated fury, and Anakin winces.

The sound of lightsabers being activated, and battle being joined makes him grimace, and he steps out onto the ramp. Neither Obi-Wan nor Vader show any sign of seeing him, and he hurries his steps, bolting across to Padmé. She's breathing, at least, though unconscious.

Zett comes with Master Windu on his heels, both coming when he beckons, though Master Windu looks past him to the fight that Anakin is trying to ignore. Whatever he had seen doesn't happen here.

"She's alive. Get her back on the ship." Anakin looks up now, turns to look at Obi-Wan and Vader for a long moment. "There's not enough room here to stop them. Only to get in their way. I have to find another way down."

"Down?" Master Windu meets his gaze when Anakin turns back, staring at him with open surprise. "And go where? To do what?"

"To where I can make a difference!" Anakin pushes to his feet. "And that's not here. You and Zett can take care of Padmé, but you can't stop those two from killing each other."

"Kenobi is doing what needs to be done. Skywalker has fallen to the Dark Side."

"That man doesn't know how to kill cleanly!" Anakin clenches his jaw, the images from the vision dancing across his vision a moment, strongly enough that they blur out reality for a moment. The best warning the Force can give him here, where everything feels wrong. "He'll leave Vader to burn, rather than kill him himself. How is that what needs to be done?"

Anakin doesn't give Master Windu time to respond to that, turning on his heel as he reaches for the Force again, sluggish and darkened as it is, dragging from it a sense of direction, and running. He needs to be in the right place to make the vision that keeps crowding his thoughts nothing more than that.

* * *

He can see the flashes of a lightsaber fight floating along the river as he runs along the ridge, and Anakin skids down the slope when he sees Obi-Wan leap, though the vision intrudes for a moment more before he shakes it off.

"Don't!" Anakin meets Vader's gaze over the heated rock and lava between them. Trying to make him think about what will happen if he makes the leap Anakin saw in his vision. The pain and horror of it, at the least, and for all that Anakin has no fondness for this shattered being called Vader, he wants to see him dead even less.

Obi-Wan stiffens, and Anakin turns his attention to him as he turns, letting one hand drift to his lightsaber as he sees the shock on Obi-Wan's face. No one had mentioned Anakin's existance, then. It doesn't last long, and Anakin grimaces at the grief and pain that beats at him from Obi-Wan.

"I don't believe we've met." Obi-Wan's attention is fully on Anakin, and Anakin watches Vader drift away on the lava, though he doesn't go far. Keeping the platform near enough he can leap if he decides to take advantage of Obi-Wan's distraction.

"Not you and me, no." Anakin draws a deep breath, the heat of the air catching at his throat and lungs. Drawing on memories of Obi-Wan as he knows him. The beloved master, the irreverent Jedi as maverick in his own way as his own master. "The person I know whose face you wear would make a clean kill. Or he'd never have walked into the fight if he knew he could not."

Even Maul wouldn't leave an enemy to burn like Anakin's vision. He might make their death linger, but he'd be sure they were dead before he walked away.

Obi-Wan's saber is lit, and Anakin lights his own as he pulls it from his belt, blue blades crossing as he opens himself to the Force, light and dark. Shedding his disguising shielding in favor of more energy from the slow currents.

The fight isn't as evenly-matched as the one he'd seen between Obi-Wan and Vader, though Anakin doesn't feel quite as close to the edge as he had when facing Sidious before this nightmare began. He ducks another blow, and makes an awkward lunge upslope to try to draw the fight further from the broad river of lava.

_MASTER!_

A frantic call vibrates along the bond with Zett, a flood of fear following it that makes Anakin stumble in surprise, and he has to drop and roll to avoid being cut in half. Rolling back to his feet, he takes a step upslope, and lets Obi-Wan close with him.

Using his lit saber to shove Obi-Wan's aside, he takes another step, bringing his other saber up, and activating it. There's a shout behind him from Vader as the blood-red blade pierces Obi-Wan's chest, carving a neat hole through him, and leaving him stunned.

When Obi-Wan goes to his knees, and his lightsaber drops from a nerveless hand, Anakin deactivates his own, bolting back toward the facility as fast as he can push himself with a Force-enhanced run.

The ship is powered up when he darts back through the final door, Zett on the ramp waiting for him, beckoning him frantically. The fear from earlier hasn't abated, and Anakin doesn't stop, just darts up the ramp, Zett falling in behind him.

"What happened?" He can hear the ramp lifting as the engines are cycled up and they lift from the platform.

"Senator Amidala isn't doing very well." Zett points Anakin toward what looks like a tiny medical suite, where Padmé is curled up on her side, face screwed up in pain. "I don't know what's wrong, and she just told Master Windu to get us off this planet."

Anakin kneels down next to the bed, reaching out to touch the side of Padmé's face. It's overheated, even to his touch, and he doubts that's just the blistering heat from the planet. "Padmé?"

She opens her eyes, studying him for a brief moment before she closes them again, letting out a hiss of pain. "Is my Anakin... is he all right?"

"Vader lives, but I don't know that you could call him all right." Anakin rests his hand on Padmé's shoulder, rubbing it gently. "Are you all right?"

"I will be fine." She sucks in another breath, a shiver going through her. "Obi-Wan?"

Anakin hesitates, before smiling sadly. "Dying, though I don't know if he will die, not with Vader there. He didn't sound happy that I'd harmed Obi-Wan."

Padmé flinches at his words, and Anakin lifts his hand away. He doesn't have a chance to pull back before Padmé grabs his hand, holding on tightly. "There's still good in him. He's not completely lost."

"I hope you're right. For Obi-Wan's sake, if nothing else." Anakin squeezes her fingers, feeling the tremble in them. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Padmé shivers, her grip on his hand tightening a moment. "It's not the baby. Not yet. I don't think."

Anakin has no idea how to check that, and he looks over his shoulder at Zett. "Tell Master Windu to find the nearest safe medical facility." Turning back to Padmé, he uses his free hand to stroke back sweat-dampened curls of her hair. "Even if it isn't the baby, it won't do any harm to make sure all is well with it."

Padmé nods without opening her eyes, pain still dominating her expression. "Is there any way to check before we get there?"

Not with the medical equipment, and Anakin hesitates. "Not yet. I don't want to be so close to Mustafar if I use the Force. I didn't train much with any healers, just enough to make sure I didn't bleed to death in the field."

He _can_ look in the Force, and make sure nothing feels wrong, but that doesn't take healer's training, just a willingness to open himself up to another, and that person to open themselves to him.

"Do you trust me?" Anakin meets Padmé's gaze steadily when she opens her eyes again, waiting for her nod, though he doubts it's anything more than a conditional trust. "Once we're away from here, I need you to trust me, to let me in, if I'm going to use the Force at all to check you and the baby." He has to trust it will work, that he'll be able to see what's wrong with Padmé. Trust that she's right and it's not the baby, and that the Force will show him if they're both wrong.

Padmé nods again, tightening her grip on his hand as she closes her eyes again. Anakin listens to the whine of the engines, lets himself feel the minute vibration of the ship as it lifts from the platform, taking a steep angle to get them as far from here as possible as quickly as possible. The cold and sluggish feeling like the Force has become stagnated in darkness lifts away as they're further from Mustafar, and Anakin takes a deep breath.

He squeezes Padmé's fingers gently as he reaches out in the Force, letting his mind slide along the currents and eddies, and feeling her willingness to let him in. Willingness to do whatever she needed to do for her baby, and trusting him to make sure it's all right. Anakin slides into her mind, murmuring a thanks that stutters to a halt as he feels what feels like something bleeding into the Force. Bleeding life and vitality away as readily as any wound, and he hisses, reaching out mental hands to try to staunch the flow.

The outside world fades to bare impressions as he holds onto what feels like the shredded end of a severed artery - a severed bond? - with every bit of concentration he can muster. At some point he thinks someone comes in, but he doesn't know who, or what he says to them. If he says anything. He's vaguely aware of movement, either around him, or him being moved, him and Padmé.

How long he's been focused on the internal before he surfaces, he has no idea, but he's no longer in the tiny medical bay of Padmé's ship when he does. The room is larger, and more sterile, with medical droids beeping anxiously about their patients, and Padmé is resting with a small bundle laying against her chest. The baby.

"I don't know what you were doing, Skywalker, but we nearly lost you both when the droids removed you from physical contact with Senator Amidala."

Master Windu's voice draws Anakin's attention away from Padmé to where the Jedi is sitting in a chair, with another small bundle held in one arm. The other has a skeletal prosthetic on it, holding a bottle as the baby drinks from it.

"Two?" Anakin doesn't know exactly what he did, either, only that he was determined not to let Padmé die from something that could be fixed. That he wanted to be able to fix, and had no experience in dealing with. He doesn't know if what he's done is what the Jedi would have done, or the Sith, only that he thinks it worked. He hopes it worked.

Master Windu frowns, than glances down at the baby he's feeding. "Senator Amidala had twins, yes." He raises an eyebrow, watching Anakin for a long moment. "What were you doing earlier, Skywalker?"

"Trying to keep the Senator from bleeding out." Anakin doesn't have any other way to describe it, and he sighs quietly. "I don't know what happened to her, but it felt like someone had some deep bond with her, and it had been ripped apart with no regard to the harm to her."

If Vader had done both, Anakin thinks he might well kill his alternate self when he has a chance. Trying to kill her like this is a cruelty Anakin doesn't think he would be capable of, and doesn't know how Vader would be, when he'd married her and had created children with her.

Children. Twins.

Anakin draws another deep breath, letting it out slowly, a small smile creeping onto his face despite himself. "What did she name them?"

"She hasn't, yet." Master Windu looks past Anakin to Padmé. "She was unconscious when we landed, and all through the birth. I didn't think that was possible."

Blinking, Anakin looks back at Padmé, his smile fading into a worried frown. Had he stopped the bleeding in time, or had he just prolonged the inevitable?

He tries to sit up, falling back when his head spins, trying to blink away the sudden grayness at the edges of his vision. The worried beeping of the medical droid gets closer, and Anakin listens to them scolding him about trying to move so quickly, trying to be active after having been unconscious for the last week.

"Week?"

"We've been able to get you to swallow water and some broth, since the droids weren't able to get an IV in. You short-circuited their limbs everytime they came near you with a needle." Master Windu sounds amused, at least, even if there is an undertone of worry to the words. "What did you do, Skywalker?"

"Tried to fix the broken bond by giving it a new anchor point." Anakin tightens the grip he still has on Padmé's hand a moment, before slowly moving his other limbs, reminding himself of the physical limits of his body. "Maybe not waking up was adjusting to the change?"

There's a snort from Master Windu, and Anakin glances at him a moment to see an expression he can't read. Blinking a moment, Anakin turns away, and back to Padmé, trying again to sit up, with a little more success this time. He still feels dizzy, but it's not as bad.

He holds onto Padmé's hand for a long moment more before consciously letting go, peeling away one finger at a time. It feels strange for his hand to be empty, and he flexes his fingers as he watches Padmé intently, hoping she'll wake soon, now that he is awake.

"Here." Master Windu comes around the bed, and holds out the baby he'd been feeding to Anakin. "This one screams when set down."

Anakin stares at the baby for a long moment, not reaching out until Master Windu goes to set them in his lap. "How...?"

Master Windu helps Anakin arrange the baby, and an extra towel one of the medical droids brings over, settling them against Anakin's shoulder. And then walks out of the room saying something about getting some sleep, and leaves Anakin with the babies and Padmé and the quartet of medical droids.

Resting the hand not under the baby on their back, Anakin looks down at the pale fabric that is all he can see of them at the moment, a small smile curving his lips. There's a whisper in the back of his mind that this little one is his, even though the twins were fathered by Vader. That even if he could find a way home, he should stay and help bring this little one, and the other, up.

"Anakin?" Padmé's voice is quiet and tired, and draws Anakin's attention to her. She's watching the baby he's holding, a small furrow of confusion between her brows. "The baby?"

"Babies." Anakin nods to the bundle resting on her chest, and Padmé brings her hands up to shift the baby, looking down at the scrunched up face. Stroking the baby's cheek with one fingertip. "They're no more than a week old, from what Master Windu told me."

"They were born three days ago." The medical droids are converging on Padmé's bed, and one of them provides the information Anakin couldn't. "You did not regain consciousness during labor as expected."

"I might have caused that." Anakin smiles apologetically at Padmé when she frowns at him, confusion coming down the newly anchored bond without any sort of clear direction to it. "I don't know how or who did it, but someone broke a bond you had, and if I didn't do something, it would have killed you. I didn't know it would take so long."

"And that meant I wasn't awake while my babies were born." Padmé looks back down at the one resting on her chest, wrapping her arms around the baby to better support them. "They are mine?"

"Yes." Anakin is certain of it, even though he'd been no more awake at the time than Pamdé. He rubs the back of the baby he's holding. "Both of them. They don't have names yet; Master Windu said they were waiting for you to name them."

Padmé is silent for a long moment, just looking down at the baby she's holding. "Luke and Leia. Anakin always told me that whatever I named the baby would be wonderful."

Anakin slides off the bed he's on, and takes the half-step to lean against Padmé's, looking down at the baby she's holding. "Which one is which?"

Letting out a quiet laugh that holds less amusement than incipient panic, Padmé shakes her head. "I don't know. I don't know them. They're mine and I don't know them."

The fear is creeping along the bond, and Anakin takes a deep breath, sending back reassurance. Padmé looks up sharply, her eyes widening a moment before she smiles, the expression a little wobbily. "What did you do with the bond?"

"I gave it a new anchor point." Anakin shifts his grip on the baby he's holding so he can reach down with his other hand to tuck a whisp of blond hair back into the blanket wrapped around the other. "I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to say yes or no. If you want, I can probably sever it again, more cleanly, so it wouldn't kill you."

"Let me think about it." Padmé draws a deep breath, her gaze sliding from his face to the baby resting against his shoulder. "Let me see. I need to see them both."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins will stay with their mother, no matter what one diminutive Jedi Master has to say, and the small group departs from Polis Massa to seek somewhere safer to go to gound.

Padmé is asleep again before Master Windu returns, and Anakin is once again holding Leia, pacing around the edge of the room to help her sleep and to let him think. He looks over at the sound of the door opening, and smiles at Master Windu, though his smile fades into puzzlement when he sees others following - and neither of the others with Master Windu are Zett.

He sends a wordless queary down the training bond, and gets back a sense of sleepiness, and the contentment of someone warm and well-fed. Late, then, likely, and Zett heading for a bunk that Anakin assumes is safe for the moment.

"Master Windu. Your Highness." He pauses, glancing down at the third, a Jedi he remembers only as a favored guest of Qui-Gon. "Master Yoda."

Yoda watches him for a long moment before harumphing, and turning away to thump over to the chair, which has been left unoccupied for him. Anakin frowns a moment, before shaking his head, and resuming his circuit of the room. Whatever Yoda intends to say, he can do so while Anakin is walking.

"Darkness there is about you, Skywalker."

"The Force there is about me, Master Yoda." Anakin rubs a hand in soothing circles on Leia's back when she shifts, encouraging her to just rest some more, sleep and grow. "You can't see very well what's in the shadows if you never step out of the light."

"Hmph. The Dark Side, always hard to see, it has been." Yoda meets his glare with an expression Anakin can't read, and without leaking anything into the Force other than a deep weariness. "Trust it, we cannot."

"Trust me, you have to." Anakin veers away from Yoda, pacing between the beds instead of around the edge of the room. "I'm not going anywhere until Padmé's ready to leave, and then I go where she goes unless she asks me not to."

"And go where, will you? To the Sith?" Yoda is watching Leia more than Anakin, and Anakin stills his hand and his pacing, half-turning to keep himself more between Leia and Yoda than not.

"Sidious is not my friend, nor is Vader. Even if Padmé asks me where to go, I wouldn't go to them." Anakin glares at Master Windu, wondering why he's brought the little green troll here.

Master Windu shakes his head, shifting to put a tiny fraction more space between himself and Yoda. This is not his idea, and perhaps he is not as in agreement with Yoda as he might appear. Anakin hopes he isn't.

"Attract their attention, you will, even if go to them, you do not." Yoda glances at Luke, then Leia again, before meeting Anakin's gaze. "The children, they must not find."

"And any decision made about them is not your concern." Anakin takes a half-step back, bumping the bed Padmé is sleeping on as he sends a quiet nudge down the bond with her. "They are Padmé's children, and you will not take them from her."

"Take them from her, I did not say." Yoda is watching Anakin with a mix of disapproval and disappointment. As if there were some failing in Anakin that he had hoped would not be. "You, they should not be near."

He can feel Padmé waking as Yoda speaks, and he reaches back with one hand to wrap his fingers around hers. Feeling her squeeze back, and sending her a pulse of reassurance, as he had earlier.

"If Padmé wants me gone, then I will go. But that is not your decision, Yoda. And it's not one you should force Padmé into until she's ready to make the decision."

"Master Yoda is here?" Padmé's voice is quiet, but not soft, and Anakin turns enough he can help her sit up, a medical droid coming over to assist them, and resettle Luke in Padmé's lap. "What are you talking about?"

"Yoda is being rude, and discussing Leia and Luke without your input. Suggesting they should not be anywhere near me, because he believes I would attract the attention of the Sith." Anakin suspects that Yoda would also prefer Zett were removed from Anakin's presence entirely, and may only be mollified by Master Windu's having accompanied them.

Padmé is quiet a moment, the room hushed as the others are polite enough to let her think over Anakin's words. "What do you propose to do, Master Yoda?"

"The children, the Emperor must not find. Separated they should be, better to hide them." Yoda rests his hands on his knees, watching Padmé steadily, and Anakin shifts a little, keeping close attention on the currents of the Force, not trusting the Jedi not to use mind tricks against Padmé if they believe this truly is for the best.

Another long moment of silence, as Padmé looks down at Luke, tracing her fingers over his face. "Can they be hidden without taking them from each other?" She looks up at Anakin, giving him an expectant look. Trusting his answer, even if the Jedi say something else.

"While they're small and can be kept close, it's easy." Anakin takes a deep breath, wrapping the same shields he'd shown Zett and Master Windu around himself, Padmé, Leia, and Luke. Hiding them all, and watching the surprise that briefly crosses Yoda's face. "I can hide us all from Sidious, and I can hide us from you, Yoda."

And when Leia and Luke aren't as willing to stay close, and are harder to hide himself, he can teach them how to hide themselves, to make themselves small and invisible, nothing to take any note of.

"Then stay." Padmé laces her fingers between his where their hands are joined. He can feel her determination, and a quiet resolve. "I will not send Leia and Luke away from their father, and I won't tell Anakin to leave me."

No one is surprised by Padmé's declaration of Anakin as the twin's father, and Anakin finds it reassuring that the Jedi must have known about Vader's association with Padmé, and didn't do all they could to stop it. Or if they did, it wasn't terribly effective.

"Then I will go with you, if you'll allow it, Senator." Master Windu's request does seem to surprise Yoda, and Anakin fights back the urge to smile. "It would be safer for you and your children to have more than Skywalker and Jukassa to protect you."

"I'm not helpless, Master Windu." Padmé gives him an irritated look, and Master Windu smiles a little at her in return.

"Of that I am aware, Senator." He folds his hands in the borrowed robe he's still wearing. "Neither of the children, however, are yet able to defend themselves, and Padawan Jukassa is still not fully trained. Perhaps you will allow me to accompany you for their sakes?"

Padmé nods, a small hint of amusement floating to Anakin along the bond. He will have to teach her how to shield it, if she wants privacy for her emotions.

"Thank you, Senator." Master Windu doesn't move yet, and Anakin can see the turmoil in Yoda's expression, he suspects over the decision that has just been made. Or perhaps over not being the one who is allowed to make the decisions on how they will arrange for their safety and that of the children.

"What about you?" Anakin looks at Yoda, wondering what the old Jedi has in mind. "Where do you intend to go?"

Yoda is silent for a long moment, looking at each of them, though Anakin can't read what he's feeling. "Into exile, I will go. Alone." He sighs quietly, shaking his head. "Your decisions, wise I think not, but dictate to you, I will not."

Anakin relaxes a little at that, though he wants to bristle at the idea that Yoda doesn't think them capable of making the right choices for themselves and the twins.

"Senator Organa, your hospitality a little longer I would intrude upon. To Dagobah, I will go."

"Of course, Master Yoda." Bail smiles, then looks over at Padmé. "You are always welcome on Alderaan, Padmé." He looks up to meet Anakin's gaze a moment, then over to Master Windu. "All of you are."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Anakin smiles, nodding in acknowledgement of the invitation, though he is less certain of taking it up. Wherever they go, they won't be able to stay for long, even if Anakin hides them in the Force. Their faces will be recognized, if nothing else.

Yoda's ears tilt downward a moment before he draws a deep breath, hopping down from the chair, turning to Master Windu. "The Force be with you, Master Windu. And with you, Senator Amidala," he says, turning to speak to Padmé, ignoring Anakin.

"And may the Force be with you as well, Master Yoda." Anakin smiles a little, and nods when Yoda looks at him.

There is nothing else said as Bail follows Yoda out of the room, leaving the rest of them in silence that is only broken by the quiet whirr of the medical droids.

"I told Padawan Jukassa to get some sleep on board the Senator's ship. Easier if you don't have to wake him up in order to leave." Master Windu breaks the silence first, and moves to sit in the seat Yoda had occupied a few minutes ago. "Something I would recommend if you're able to, Senator Amidala."

"Please, call me Padmé." Padmé smiles briefly, before looking down at Luke in her lap, tracing his face lightly with her fingers. "We've been here long enough that I don't know where to go. I don't know enough about what's happened while we've been out of touch with the rest of the galaxy."

"If they think you're dead?"

"I've been in the public eye for much of the war, Master Windu." Padmé looks up again, a small smile crossing her face. "A week without anything at all will have people concerned for me. I want to know what they think happened before I simply show up somewhere in public."

"If I'm to call you Padmé, Senator, please call me Mace." It's a mutual courtesy, and Anakin is glad Master Windu is willing to extend it to Padmé. "You both should. It will be easier to avoid using potentially dangerous titles or names in public if we do not do so in private."

"Of course, Mace." Padmé looks up at Anakin, and he nods in response to the unspoken question, feeling her curiosity down the bond. He will try to remember to call Master Windu Mace in public and private, though it feels strange to do so with someone who he has barely known for long at all.

"Once we're away from Polis Massa, it should be easier to get information." Master Windu leans forward enough to rest his elbows on his knees, lacing flesh and cybernetic fingers together. "I still think we should have a plan for where we are going before we leave. Better to have to change it later than take time to think about it if someone starts firing on us."

And they can't trust either side of the war not to do so. Anakin shifts, hitching Leia a little higher against his shoulder, trying to think of anywhere he'd remembered as neutral from home, though nowhere comes to mind very well. Belkadan, but that's far from anywhere, and on the far side of the galaxy, besides. Not exactly a place easy to reach without being caught somewhere.

"Naboo, if we can. The Queen will help us, and there are places that are secluded enough no one would look for us there." Padmé picks Luke up, glancing at Anakin a moment as she settles Luke against her shoulder, one arm under him to hold him as she uses the other to help her shift her weight. "If Naboo isn't safe, Tatooine."

Her voice catches a bit as she says that, and Anakin feels a mix of worn grief and fresh pain surge down the bond. He'll have to ask what the grief comes from - it feels too worn to be about Vader - later. The pain, at least the physical, is more concern at the moment. "Careful."

"I'm fine, Anakin." Padmé smiles at him a moment, though Anakin doesn't think she's fine. The pain is still echoing at him, though she seems determined to ignore it. "I need to get up. We can talk about where we're going as we walk back to the ship."

That catches the attention of the medical droids, who'd been hovering at a distance, and now they float closer, one of them braver than the rest voicing concern about Padmé trying to walk that far when she still needs to heal further from childbirth. There is only so much they can do to speed the process.

"Bring me a hoverchair if you insist I shouldn't walk." Padmé glares at the medical droid, and Anakin turns his head so she can't see his grin. "And if they can't bring me a chair, Mace can carry Leia and Luke, and you can carry me."

Anakin blinks, not quite certain what to do with the idea of carrying Padmé - someone he's never thought of as needing any assistance, at least not from him - to the ship. He's glad when the droids are able to bring a hoverchair, and he helps Padmé settle in it with Luke.

Master Windu walks in front of them, making sure they get to the ship safely, and he takes Leia from Anakin once they're on board, so Anakin can make sure the hoverchair is placed out of the way, and close up the ramp behind them. The sooner they're away, the better.

* * *

"... entire galaxy mourns with Naboo over the loss of their beloved Senator Amidala." Anakin catches the tail-end of the holo-cast as he walks into the small galley and lounge space, Leia sleeping on his shoulder again. She'd woken soon after they'd left Polis Massa, and fussed until Anakin had picked her up off the bunk she and Luke were resting on.

Padmé is sitting on one side of the small table, Master Windu on the other, both watching a news holo-cast with frustrated expressions.

"How far does that holo-cast reach?" Anakin slides onto the bench next to Padmé as she scoots over to give him room. "Will we even be able to go to Tatooine?" He doesn't want to go back there, but the only other places he considers safe may not be. Serenno, Belkadan, Yavin.

"I don't know."

Padmé thumbs the projector back to the beginning of the holo-cast, letting Anakin see all of it. The coverage of the funeral for a corpse that could barely be seen under the stiff, formal garb it had been dressed in, and a face that was artfully made-up to appear like Padmé's face. Anakin hopes they didn't kill Sabé just to create a corpse for this staged horror show. When the segment is finished, she pauses it again, watching Anakin.

"I don't think it's safe for us to go to Naboo, even if the Queen doesn't believe that to be me." Padmé glances down, her emotions uncertain. "And while Tatooine is ruled by the Hutts, I know they still get at least some holocasts in the major settlements. I don't know how much anyone else would know. Or even if it would be safe for us to go to anyone else on Tatooine."

"Why would you think to go there, anyway?" Anakin can feel the same faded grief he had earlier, and he's curious now. "Did Vader ever go back there, once he'd gotten free?"

"Once." Padmé's grief is visible on her face, and she closes her eyes, letting out a soft sigh. "He'd been having nightmares about his mother. He wanted to save her. She was taken by Tuskens, and killed by them."

Anakin reaches the hand not supporting Leia out, and Padmé grips it, letting him share her grief - and his own, to know that here, his mother is dead rather than missing. He had hoped that maybe there was this one small thing, but perhaps that is a constant, no matter where he might go, that he has lost his mother too soon in every universe.

"Tuskens don't raid the larger settlements. Had Watto sold her?"

Padmé nods. "And she'd been freed. She married a moisture farmer, Cleigg Lars. She was on the farm when she was taken."

"She died free." Anakin smiles a little, a fierce joy running through his grief. "Free, not still a slave."

Master Windu is watching him with a small frown on his face. "That's important?"

"Always." Anakin looks between Master Windu and Padmé, though Padmé seems less confused. "If you die free, you die your own. On your terms, not those of the master. You're _allowed_ to die."

And if his mother had died free, someone had done what he'd promised he would do one day. What he would have done if she'd been alive and in need of that rescue now, what Vader had failed as much as Anakin in doing.

"My mother isn't free. I don't know where she was sold to, beyond into the Empire. I would have gone looking for her, if I hadn't ended up here."

"Oh, Anakin." Padmé squeezes his hand. "I wish I could have told you something better."

"I know." Anakin squeezes back, sending her a gentle wave of reassurance. "So, have you and Mas... Mace, had any luck deciding where to go, since we can't go to Naboo or Tatooine?"

"Not yet. We weren't going to discuss it until you and Zett were awake." Padmé smiles a little. "Have you slept at all?"

"Not since we left Polis Massa." Anakin shrugs, letting go of Padmé's hand so he can shift Leia to his other arm and rest the one he'd been holding her with. "I'm fine. I can sleep later."

They give him almost identical looks of skepticism, and Anakin smiles, shrugging a little. It's not like he's not done without sleep, and even recently. And he had a good long nap on the trip to Polis Massa, anyway.

Padmé's eyes narrow, and she shakes his head at him, but doesn't say anything. Yet. Anakin has a distinct feeling she'll have words for him later.

"Do you know anywhere else that might be safe for us?" Padmé reaches out to touch Leia gently, fingers stroking lightly over her head. "Or do you think your knowledge of the galaxy is too colored by your own?"

"Most of it, probably." Anakin turns so Padmé can take Leia from him, if she wants to, and she watches him for a long moment before doing so, taking a long moment to settle Leia against her shoulder. Leia snuggles closer, pressing her face against Padmé's neck. "I spent twelve years on Belkadan, but that's the far edge of the galaxy. It's not a place to go unless you're planning to hide and stay hidden for a long while without any real contact with the rest of the galaxy."

And for all their need to find somewhere safe to begin from, Anakin is certain neither Padmé nor Master Windu intend to stay hidden longer than it takes for them to get their feet under them, and healing done. For the twins to grow and not be quite so fragile as newborns are. Perhaps for Zett to be comfortably settled in as Anakin's student.

"Bail did offer to shelter us on Alderaan, but I don't want to put him at risk if someone comes looking for us. Any of us." Padmé absently rubs Leia's back, as if she's comforting her, gaze turned inward. "Do you think they'd look for us on your homeworld, Mace?"

"Even if they wouldn't, I don't know if it would be safe. The Korunnai are all Force-sensitive, and we don't know what the Sith plan to do about those who are able to sense and use the Force, but aren't Jedi." Mace has a troubled expression on his face. "I don't think they'll be any kinder to them then they were to us, though."

"Any planet within the Republic is going to have the same dangers for you and Anakin and Zett." Padmé shakes her head, pressing her lips together. "So will those who joined the Seperatists."

"Then somewhere outside what the Republic has claimed." Anakin prods at the holo-projector a moment, looking for some sort of star-map. "The Unknown Regions, and see how far we can go."

Mace reached over to take the holo-projector, finding the map faster. "There's a lot of space there no one knows much about, but it isn't all uninhabited. I don't know who is out there, but there are places where ships go missing, and there are no survivors to report back. I'd rather not become another missing ship."

"Where are we?" Anakin looks over the map. "Mustafar and Polis Massa are both off the Hydian Way."

"We came out near Eriadu long enough to pick up transmissions on the holo-net." Padmé traces one of the bright lines on the map as it twists through space. "I took us back into hyperspace as quickly as I could, a short jump back toward Averam, enough to put us between systems."

Anakin looks over the map, taking a deep breath, and reaching out to the Force, letting his fingers trace over brilliant lines of hyperlanes and pinpoints of systems. "Here." He enlarges the map on the system his finger has come to rest on, looking over the system it reveals, and the scarce notes. "There's a single habitable planet here, but it doesn't look like anyone really has anything to say about it."

"Chalcedon." Mace leans in, taking the map back out, tracing along the hyperlane the system is along. "Cerea to Kinyen, and here." He taps another system. "I thought I remembered this planet. Halm. They have Adegan crystals there."

Something it would be useful to have extra of, when the twins are older, or even if something happens to the lightsabers they already have. And for Zett to build another lightsaber when he gets older and outgrows the hilt he has now, and possibly the crystals he has as well.

Padmé is silent a long moment before she nods. "We'll stay there until we're ready, then." She turns off the holo-projector before nudging Anakin with her knee, waiting for him to move before she gets up. "If you'll program the flight path, Mace, Anakin and I have to talk."

"Of course." Mace tilts his head, sliding out from the table and leaving them alone in the small lounge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was life stomping all over intentions. Here's the last completed chapter of the story, and there will be one more once it is written.

**Author's Note:**

> The story is currently sitting at almost 20k on my computer, and now that I have a title for it, I'm going to be posting chapters as I sort out where to break for chapters, and re-read the story. I'm not sure if it's finished, and I have a bit that's for the next story, or if it's still incomplete, so I'm not going to post chapters more often than every other week until I catch up to where I left off. Those who'd like to read ahead to where I left off are welcome to check out the "au: ashes and hope" tag on my tumblr.


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